“Here is a thought, let China become entangled with India, then the US attacks North Korea, driving all the way to the border and holding.”
That’s actually a good scenario. China has made the mistake of threatening Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Japan, Taiwan, India, the United States, even North Korea and probably a few that have escaped our attention. They have put the world on notice that they are an aggressive empire with expansionist dreams. None of those countries are very big militarily, but they may suddenly coalesce against a common threat. I can’t see where most of them can do much, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see China back down if they managed to stand together; and they would be fools not to. No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy and once they are fully involved, despite their huge military, they will have to think about defending a huge border virtually surrounded by unhappy neighbors.
The problem with leaders is they focus in on one set of facts and imagine how easy it would be, given the “current” circumstances to achieve their short term goals. Right now India is heading towards an election and the current leaders don’t dare back down. The Chinese are heading towards a big communist party convention and they have painted themselves into a corner by being so public in what they will do if India doesn’t back down. While I don’t think India is in a position to win a war, I don’t think they will lose it either. This is a brinksmanship error that should have been handled quietly before it had the eyes of the world and potential loss of face attached to it. I wager China would welcome a Trump initiative supporting India so they have a face saving way to back away from what promises to be a very problematic situation.
If India loses, it would be finished as a regional power and they know it. The stakes are very high and China has little to gain that they don’t already have.
I am not sure who would win, though India appears to have the home turf advantage. India also has some newer technology. Conversely, China has been bulking up, though I don’t know how well they can fight in that terrain.
The wild card is Russia. They have had border skirmishes with the Chinese for decades, and generally positive relations with India.
It would also be interesting if the US did attack NK, that refugees could intentionally be pushed over the Chinese border, creating chaos.
So this take over of the Doklam plateau in tiny Bhutan is part of their strategy to annex an entire Indian state and maybe more.
This small incursion is part of a larger plan for a massive land grab.
I think India will fight this like their entire NE was about to be taken over. It will not be a small and limited war.
China has a social political problem that is actually pretty serious. It has an overabundance of young men without possibility of wives. The Moslem “nations” have the same problem. Those young men have to be directed outwardly or they become a force for rebellion. They have to be burned off in foreign wars lest they burn down their own countries’ ruling classes. The USA will be facing this excess of Chinese and Saracen young men for another generation, maybe two and the involvement in what are essentially border wars will be incessant as it has been for the past generation. If the West doesn’t push back and help China and the Mohammedans burn off their excess warrior youth then the Americas will suffer the fate of Europe which even now is being overrun.